Football: Veteran CU Buffs set to play for third coach

Players will have to adapt to MacIntyre's new staff

By Kyle Ringo Buffzone.com

Posted:
12/15/2012 07:45:02 PM MST

There are more than 20 Colorado football players who will head home for the holidays in the coming week after finals knowing they will return in January for winter workouts and spring practices under their third head coach.

These veteran Buffs have been through the wringer both emotionally and physically over the past three years. They have experienced more than their share of losing and now they're trying to build a relationship with another head coach with the same process still to come with position coaches when Mike MacIntyre finalizes his staff.

"I wasn't expecting having three coaches in five years," defensive back Parker Orms said. "Even with coach Hawk, I thought we were going to come in and start winning right away and that didn't happen. So I really thought when coach (Jon) Embree got here that we would just start all over and start winning and build a dynasty and that didn't happen.

"It's just been a crazy career here so far for me and the seniors. We definitely came in wanting more and expecting a lot more, but it didn't happen that way. So we've just got to come together and no matter what play the best football we can next year."

The Buffs have learned from both staffs and they're acutely aware now that college football is big business above all else and tomorrow is promised only to coaches who win a lot.

They were recruited to CU by Dan Hawkins and his staff and some of them played a season under that coaching regime. Then came Embree and his emphasis on restoring toughness and traditions to the program.

The Buffs can only play the guessing game for now about what MacIntyre's mantra will be in the coming months.

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"I know what to expect and I can see potential avenues the new coach might take," left tackle David Bakhtiari said. "I can kind of shed light on them. It's interesting but you've just got to get through it. It's no fun. No one likes that constantly moving all the time."

When Embree took over two years ago, he put the Buffs through a brutal month of spring practices in March and April 2011. It's a common approach taken by new coaches. They want to get a feel for the toughness of the players they inherited while also establishing their expectations.

Coaches generally aren't bothered if a few players decide along the way that they want to leave and play elsewhere because it means another scholarship to be used on a player the new guy gets to recruit.

Some of the Buffs are hoping MacIntyre doesn't also feel like he has to ratchet up the intensity level in his first spring to make a point.

"I guess what I'm hoping for is a coach that is going to come in and do that but a coach that is going to make us train and get better and not just beat us down," Bakhtiari said. "I've already spent two years of getting beat down before I get to build myself. I wouldn't like to have a third year, especially my last year, getting beat down again."

Wide receiver Paul Richardson is in a unique position having missed a full season because of injury. The idea of having football taken away from him is still fresh in his mind. He's looking forward to getting back on the field in the spring regardless of how difficult the practices might be.

"I'm not really concerned," Richardson said. "I expect it to be a little extra than it would be at a program that has been very successful. I know that we've been struggling so I anticipate having a tough spring and tough offseason.

"You know, that's kind of what you sign up for. Us having a tough offseason prepares us for the next level. It only gets tougher in the offseason there cause it comes down to making or losing money. IF we develop those work ethics now and we experience it now, at the next level, those of us who make it, will appreciate going through it now knowing that we're better prepared."

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